Mom Documents Her Son's Month-Long Journey in the NICU With Beautiful Photo Series

This Mom Documented Her Son's Time in the NICU With Moving Photos

When Australian photographer Alex Warden's son, Van, was born early at 31 weeks, 5 days, Warden turned to photography to process the complexity of the experience. In a post on her official site, Warden explains that "due to threatened preterm labor from 26 weeks (thanks to a shortened cervix), I had a lot of time to mentally prepare myself for this moment which I think is why I remember it being really beautiful," she wrote.

Still, Warden also says that she felt a "cocktail of emotions" when she held Van for the first time. "Skin-to-skin I could hear and feel the bubbles from the CPAP against my chest as the air entered and opened up his little lungs, a subtle reminder that my boy had more growing to do and was not yet strong enough to get by in this world without medical assistance," she wrote.

Not only did Van spend a nerve-racking month in the NICU, but when she and her partner, Blake, were finally able to take him home, they ended up rushing him back to the hospital six days later, where he was diagnosed with RSV bronchiolitis.

Warden is also mom to daughter Lennon, who she writes is "totally smitten" with her baby brother. When Warden was at the hospital with Van, she says she missed Lennon; when home with Lennon, she felt guilty about not being with Van.

After another five days, they were able to take Van home for good. "Our hearts are full and we are so SO proud of this little fighter of ours," she wrote.

Warden's moving photo series shows just how strong Van, and all the "little warriors" in the NICU, as Warden calls them, really are.